What are your top 5 must read books?
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Katja Marlowe
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Join date: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 421
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10-19-2005 13:11
What are the top 5 books you would recommend to anyone and everyone? Mine are as follows: 1) Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (this would of course start someone on the whole track of her series, but I'm not going to cheat and just list her series  ) , a historical fiction book that mixes time traveling in. The detail and first person perspective, the humor and the raw human emotion makes this one an entertaining read for sure. 2) Bag of Bones by Stephen King: In my opinion, one of his best books. Written from a first person perspective about a haunting. I add this one to my list because it's not merely about a physical haunting, but an emotional and psychological haunting of the narrator's own making. The exploration of grief and what it can do to a person is stunning. 3) The Jungle by Upton Sinclair: This book is most definitely not for the weak stomached, but the expose of poverty and the people that are forced to work in the jobs that no one else wants, to survive is worth it. I think that the lives of the people within those jobs is still applicable today. 4) Memoirs of a Geisha: Simply one of the most stunning books I have ever read. I've read it about 4 times and still remain impressed at the end. 5) Stones by The River by Ursula Hegi: This book is a must read for anyone that has ever been even remotely fascinated by the Holocaust, Germany or WWII. It's a book written from the viewpoint of a woman in a German village, the book goes through WWI, the Depression and WWII. I think the beauty of it is, is it is definitely a compassionate and rounded out view on how each German dealt with and chose to respond to the powers that were in charge of their country. It's heartbreaking to read, but the beauty of the prose and the completeness of the story make it definitely worth the heartbreak.
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Gabe Lippmann
"Phone's ringing, Dude."
Join date: 14 Jun 2004
Posts: 4,219
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10-19-2005 13:37
1) Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons by John Carter: Parsons cofounded the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and was leader of the Agape Lodge of Aleister Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). Truly weird dude. Truly interesting story. 2) Iced by A. Ray Shell: story of a man becoming full blown crack addict. A hard look at the life of a junkie. 3) The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson: Thompson wrote this at 22 while living in Puerto Rico and working for an English language newpaper - very loosely based on his experiences. Nice comparison to later works. And short. You could finish it today. 4) The Universe Next Door by Robert A. Wilson (Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy : "The Universe Next Door", "The Trick Top Hat", & "The Homing Pigeons"  : got it all - quantum theories, conspiracy, sex. 5) Shadow & Claw (The First Half of 'The Book of the New Sun') by Gene Wolfe: great fantasy read. Follow the path of an apprentice torturer on a far-future Urth, exciled from his guild for showing mercy toward on of his victims.
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Neehai Zapata
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Join date: 8 Apr 2004
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10-19-2005 14:00
1) Geek Love by Katherine DunnA highly entertaning book that makes you take a second look at what we will do for beauty and attention. It is the story of a group of circus freaks. The mother and father attempt various things during the pregnancy to produce their "special" children for the show. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0446391301/002-4067886-2927240?v=glance2) 30-Minute Meals 2 by Rachael RayWhere would I be without Rachael Ray? If you want to learn how to make easy meals that are tasty and impressive, get this book. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1891105108/qid=1129754552/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/002-4067886-2927240?v=glance&s=books3) Boys Like Us - Edited by Patrick MerlaTwenty-nine original coming out essays. Very powerful and inspiring read. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380788357/qid=1129754586/sr=5-2/ref=cm_lm_asin/002-4067886-2927240?v=glance4) Interview with the Vampire by Anne RiceI read this book when I was in the seventh grade. Maybe I wouldn't appreciate it as much today. But my memory of this book places it at the top of my list. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345337662/qid=1129755118/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-4067886-2927240?v=glance&s=books&n=5078465) Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do - Studs TerkelI really fascinating and compelling collection of stories told by people about the jobs they do. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1565843428/qid=1129755379/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-4067886-2927240?v=glance&s=books&n=507846I hope I picked the right five.  I am sure I will slap myself on the head in about an hour.
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Chance Abattoir
Future Rockin' Resmod
Join date: 3 Apr 2004
Posts: 3,898
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10-19-2005 14:01
Books are stupid. Let's go to the mall.
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Pol Tabla
synthpop saint
Join date: 18 Dec 2003
Posts: 1,041
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10-19-2005 14:05
A Star Called Henry - Roddy Doyle Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson Locas - Jaime Hernandez The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius - Michael Moorcock
this week, anyway
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Katja Marlowe
Registered User
Join date: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 421
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10-19-2005 14:06
Aww, well just post another five LOL
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Gabe Lippmann
"Phone's ringing, Dude."
Join date: 14 Jun 2004
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10-19-2005 14:07
From: Neehai Zapata I am sure I will slap myself on the head in about an hour. 
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Katja Marlowe
Registered User
Join date: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 421
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10-19-2005 14:07
From: Pol Tabla [The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
this week, anyway OMG! *hits forehead* I totally forgot about the Blind Assassin. I need to reread that one. Loved it! Did you like Oryx and Crake, Pol?
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Pol Tabla
synthpop saint
Join date: 18 Dec 2003
Posts: 1,041
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10-19-2005 14:16
From: Katja Marlowe OMG! *hits forehead* I totally forgot about the Blind Assassin. I need to reread that one. Loved it! Did you like Oryx and Crake, Pol? I haven't read it yet, but it's on my list. My endless, endless list...
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Katja Marlowe
Registered User
Join date: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 421
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10-19-2005 14:22
From: Pol Tabla I haven't read it yet, but it's on my list. My endless, endless list... I have that too. And like a fool, I keep adding. I liked Blind Assassin better.
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Memory Harker
Girl Anachronism
Join date: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 393
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Okay, so it's more than five. Go ahead, A/R me or something.
10-19-2005 15:17
INFINITE JEST by David Foster Wallace
WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE by Shirley Jackson
LIVE GIRLS by Beth Nugent
THE NEW YORK TRILOGY (City of Glass, The Locked Room, Ghosts) by Paul Auster
ENGINE SUMMER by John Crowley
GHOSTWRITTEN and CLOUD ATLAS by David Mitchell
VALIS by Phllip K. Dick
LIVES OF THE MONSTER DOGS by Kirsten Bakis
THE WASP FACTORY by Iain Banks
WATCHMEN by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
GRAVITY'S RAINBOW by Thomas Pynchon
JIMMY CORRIGAN by Chris Ware
I NEVER LIKED YOU by Chester Brown
and Salinger's CATCHER IN THE RYE just goes without saying, right?
Of course it does.
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Maeve Morgan
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Join date: 2 Apr 2004
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10-19-2005 15:34
Warning some of my favorite books are rather man hating but I'm not a militant feminist or anything
Rose Madder by Stephen King: Battered house wife runs away and gets the best revenge possible
Imajica by Clive Barker, a parallel universe love story with a mutli gendered leading "lady"
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub, a creepy fairy tale about a boy who saves a queen in 2 worlds
The Gunslinger by Stephen King, a tragic hero in a world that has moved on
The Vampire Lestat by Ann Rice, It's not the first in the series but my favorite because Lestat is more interesting Louis whines too much
The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, a really disturbing view of an alternate future
The gate to Women's Country by Sherri S Tepper, a post apocolyptic society run by women.
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Malachi Petunia
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Join date: 21 Sep 2003
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10-19-2005 16:35
That's a toughy, so I'll go with the ones that have most profoundly touched me or caused me to view the world differently or both: - The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins - Although this was not actually the book that answered all the Big Questions for me, it is the one most accessible and is far less technical than the one that did.
- The Cider House Rules by John Irving - I've yet to see such a delicate and balanced polemic on whether to "deliver babies or deliver mothers". As with all Irving's works, the characters are as complex as people and have the same strengths, nobilities, foibles, and weakness as do we all.
- The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. - An amazing exploration of humanity as it bumps up against the issues of free will, arbitrariness and contingency in the universe, and the illusions we hold about ourselves. As a self-proclaimed cynical, hopeful romantic, Mr. Vonnegut probably did more to guide my world view than anyone else. Moreover, he's an engineer and anthropologist (how cool is that?) who writes with a grace that is often confused for simplistic.
- The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker - I've yet to read anything that so nimbly captures the complexity of the inner self as this entire novel which takes place in the protagonist's mind during a single escalator ride.
- Parliment of Whores by P. J. O'Rourke - Disguised as a satirical view of United States government, it winds up being both compasionate toward the bureaucrats he observes and explains in a jaw-dropping conclusion how our problems are not in our stars or our government, but in ourselves
- Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman - Yes, I know there were only to be five, but I couldn't find one of these to drop. An extremely incisive view into what drives contemporary culture and where it might be driven to.
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Euterpe Roo
The millionth monkey
Join date: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 1,395
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10-19-2005 16:45
From a slightly different perspective (btw, this is like choosing who gets into the lifeboat--Ethics 101-style)  Herman Melville Moby Dick: It is screamingly funny in parts, erotic in others, beautiful the whole way through. I try to read it once a year. Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre: A cautionary tale for women: that tall, dark, brooding dude has a woman locked in his attic. Virginia Woolf Mrs. Dalloway: The most accessable of Woolf's brilliant novels, Mrs. Dalloway is a beautiful way to get to know Woolf ( Orlando is a close second). Of course, there is also Michael Cunningham's The HoursMary Shelley Frankenstein: If you have not given this one a chance, it is prophetic and spooky, at the same time. Victor Hugo Les Miserables: A father/daughter, man-makes-good, star-crossed lovers, man vs. the law novel set against the backdrop of war and economic strife in France--what's not to love? Runners up: Faulkner's As I Lay Dying or The Sound and the Fury; Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn; John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy of Dunces; Kurt Vonnegut's--heck, just about anything by Vonnegut; Nabakov's Lolita; Miguel de Cervantes Don Quixote; Daniel DeFoe Moll Flanders Okey doke--sorry for the overload. I expect a compare/contrast paper of no fewer than 20 pages on my desk by next week. (Did I say that aloud?) 
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Malachi Petunia
Gentle Miscreant
Join date: 21 Sep 2003
Posts: 3,414
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10-19-2005 17:40
From: Euterpe Roo Virginia Woolf Mrs. Dalloway... Okey doke--sorry for the overload. I expect a compare/contrast paper of no fewer than 20 pages on my desk by next week. (Did I say that aloud?)  First, you are mistaken, Mrs. Dalloway is not one of your favorites. Second, I guess I shouldn't tell you about the compate/contrast paper on Dalloway and Portrait of an Artist ... that I aced having read only four pages of each. 
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Kendra Bancroft
Rhine Maiden
Join date: 17 Jun 2004
Posts: 5,813
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10-19-2005 17:49
In no particular order:
1) Ishmael -- Daniel Quinn
2) Kristin Lavransdotter -- Sigrid Unset
3) Lord Of The Rings -- JRR Tolkien
4) Amerika --Franz Kafka
5) The Odessa Tales --Issac Babel
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Katja Marlowe
Registered User
Join date: 15 Apr 2005
Posts: 421
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10-19-2005 18:02
From: Euterpe Roo From a slightly different perspective (btw, this is like choosing who gets into the lifeboat--Ethics 101-style)  Okey doke--sorry for the overload. I expect a compare/contrast paper of no fewer than 20 pages on my desk by next week. (Did I say that aloud?)  Yah, it's hard to choose. I'll probably post my next five soon cause everytime someone posts, I'm like ooh, reminds me of this book which should have been on my 5 too. And yes, okey dokey on the paper. Can I send that in notecard version? or must it be double spaced in Word?
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Leilany LaFollette
Not old, just older
Join date: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 686
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10-19-2005 18:15
Hard to pick just five, but I'll try... 1) Lovesick - Angeles Mastretta. 2) Portrait in Sepia - Isabel Allende (or pretty much anything by Isabel Allende) 3) Doomsday Book (or Passage  ) - Connie Willis 4) Clan of the cave bear series - Jean M. Auel 5) Fall on your knees - Ann Marie McDonald That was hard! 
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Armath Severine
Teen Grid Ancient.
Join date: 7 Jul 2005
Posts: 282
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Call me cliche... but......
10-20-2005 06:22
By our favorite Tolkien: The Hobbit (or There and Back Again) The Followship of the Ring (Being the first part of The Lord of the Rings) The Two Towers (Being the second) The Return of the King (Being the third) The Silmarillion I'm still mid-read on them, but, if long windy sentences are your thing... then you must give them a try. The Hobbit is a quick cute read; The Lord of the rings is the meat of the tale, and The Silmarillion is the bad-ass, gritty back-story that i can't wait to finally read If we want to split hairs, Lord of the Rings is actually only one book (or six, depending on your layout)...... but then I couldnt knock out the 5-book list  -- On that note, also check out: By C. S. Lewis; The Chronicles of Narnia (which has a bunch of parts too) By David Wingrove; The Books of Myst(of D'ni created by Robyn and Rand Miller) And just to piss people off, I offer this statment. J. K. Rowling is unoriginal; and R. A. Salvator is a ghost-writing hack! >:3They don't get wiki links! So ha!
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Willow Zander
Having Blahgasms
Join date: 22 May 2004
Posts: 9,935
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10-20-2005 06:37
Hmmmmmm hard to say!
I love books, but working with them all day long tends to make me stray away from them as of late, BUT, I will give it a go.
A Child Called It - Dave Pelzer - This shows some of the worst aspect of humanity but also give hope. I did not put this book down until I had read it cover to cover. Disturbing and moving.
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath - I wouldn't recommend this book if you are looking for action or suspense, but if you have an open mind and are up to seeing life "through the distorting lens of a bell jar," go get a copy NOW!
Lord of the Flies - William Golding - This is perhaps one of the most beautiful, poignant, heart-rending books ever written. The film also made me cry!
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - A piece of American history that depicts racism and prejudice, childhood innocence, and the determination of one man who risked it all to stand up for what he believed in, again, LOVED the movie.
Mother Tounge - Bill Bryson - A very entertaining history of the development of the English language. Gotta love Bill!
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Jillian Callahan
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Join date: 24 Jun 2004
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10-20-2005 06:57
Fabulous pure fantasy: Ariel: A Book of the Change by Stephen Boyett Nice "woah" factor: A Brief History of Time : From the Big Bang to Black Holes by Stephen W. Hawking Provocation of thought and reflection: Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium by Carl Sagan Fascinating examination of good and evil: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire Thought provoking and hilarious look at religion and religious expectations: Lamb : The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
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Ghoti Nyak
καλλιστι
Join date: 7 Aug 2004
Posts: 2,078
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10-20-2005 07:18
Hilarious book!!! Highly recommended! -Ghoti
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Maeve Morgan
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Join date: 2 Apr 2004
Posts: 1,512
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10-20-2005 08:25
Wow I didn't know anyone besides me and 3 of my friends read that we try to tell other people about it and they look at us like we have lost our minds, and it's been out of print forever.
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Gabe Lippmann
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Join date: 14 Jun 2004
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10-20-2005 08:29
Havne't read that one, but loved the other Moore books I've read. 
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Jake Reitveld
Emperor of Second Life
Join date: 9 Mar 2005
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10-20-2005 10:41
1. The Count of Monte Christo. Alexandre Dumas. I read. A lot. A lot more than most, because I don't watch tv. This is my favorite book, period. No movie version even comes close.
2. Dune -Frank Herbert.
3. The Unfettered Mind-Takuan
4. The Sun Also Rises-E. Hemingway
5. Count Zero-William Gibson
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